Springfield College

Melissa (Rogers) Sharpe ’02 G’04 will enter her 18th season as the head coach of the Springfield College field hockey program during the 2021 season. A native of Southwick, Mass., Sharpe is also an Assistant Professor of Physical Education at Springfield College.

Sharpe helped lead Springfield College to its best regular season finish in 10 years during the 2018 campaign as the Pride had one of the most potent offensives in all of college field hockey, owning a 4.29 goal-scoring margin, which was the sixth-best in the nation, regardless of division.  Led by a record-setting season from Amanda Nusbaum where she established new game, season, and career records for assists, Springfield reached the NEWMAC Championship Semifinals, while Nusbaum was selected to play in the NFHCA Division III Senior All Star Game.   

Sharpe continues to lead the prolific field hockey program at Springfield College, as during her career, she has posted an overall record of 200-130, good for a winning percentage of .606. Sharpe is no stranger to the program, as she was a four-year standout student-athlete for the legendary Dottie Zenaty, before returning to the sidelines as a graduate assistant coach for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Prior to her tenure as a coach, Sharpe enjoyed one of the most impressive careers in Springfield College field hockey history. To this day, Sharpe remains the program's second all-time leading scorer with 128 points (59 goals, 10 assists), and as a a senior team captain in 2001, she was an NFHCA/STX First-Team All-American after leading all of Division III in goals (28), and finishing second in points (62). She was also the NEWMAC Player of the Year and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Co-Player of the Year in 2001.

Sharpe's playing career coincided with an incredibly successful era in the program's history. A four-year letter winner from 1998 to 2001, she sparked the Pride to an 80-22 record (an average of 20 wins per season), two trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament, and a pair of NEWMAC championships in 1999 and 2000.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management in May of 2002 from Springfield College, Sharpe also earned her Master’s degree in Athletic Administration in the spring of 2004.

Coaching Highlights

• Springfield College field hockey was named the top academic program in Division III with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.59 in 2013. From 2013-2017, the Pride has had 90 student-athletes named to the Gladiator by SGI / NFHCA Division III National Academic Squad.
• Named the NEWMAC and NFHCA New England Coach of the Year in 2008 after leading the Pride to the NCAA Championship Tournament for the fifth-straight year and winning consecutive conference titles.
• Under Sharpe's watch, Jane Kelliher was the first player in conference history to win back-to-back NEWMAC Field Hockey Player of the Year honors since 1991.
• Posted an overall record of 81-17 in her first four years as a head coach.